Blossom
by IAmForReal
Summary: With a friendship that has never truly been opened up, Jake and Emma reflect on what they are together and apart. Friendship fanfic, no pairing!


_Hi! New story for you all :). _

_There may be a chance my other two will be on an official break so I can work on this and the ones that follow. __If you like this, be on the lookout for more to come!_

_Onto the story!_

* * *

It was an optional field trip. There weren't a lot of students that came along. But Emma still didn't expect Jake Holling to actually be seen here.

Mr. Burley had organized a nice, morning hike through the forest, as an optional field trip. It was on a Saturday, so no one expected much to come in the fear of wasting a good weekend. Troy, Gia, and Noah had all declined themselves. She had most expected Jake to as well.

But he was here, hiking right in front of her. And it was a great unfamiliar feeling.

She thought about all the logic in his possible reasoning. She knew Jake wasn't a big nature junkie. Emma admittedly knew that he didn't care about it that much. She knew why the others wouldn't be here, other than the fact that it was Saturday. Troy was out with his mom for the day, Gia was out of town to visit some relatives, and Noah had a science convention. She had to admit, that she expected Jake to either be home, or practicing for soccer, not doing anything that pertained to school.

But at the same time, something lit up inside of her. Maybe Jake had a change of heart. Maybe Jake was learning to appreciate nature more.

Or he was just bored. Emma frowned to herself because she knew that the third option was most likely. But she observed Jake as he talked away with another friend of his, and then Emma realized how comforting he had been.

Emma hadn't really thought about how lonely it might've actually been without her best friend, and her closest friends around her. And to be honest, Emma didn't really have any friends outside of the rangers. She was really just the nature enthusiast that hung out with Gia Moran all the time. No one knew her. No one else cared for her like that. She realized that it would've been lonelier either way. There wouldn't be anyone for her.

So while everyone had ignored the environment around them, she walked in the back of the crowd alone, while Jake walked in front of her.

She choked down a lump in her throat as Jake's friend had moved up to the front of the small crowd. She bit her lip when they were finally alone, her and a friend.

"Jake?" she said, finally grappling his attention.

Jake had been on the brink of finally dozing into space when he heard his name being called. He quickly turned around, and came face to face with his pink ranger.

"Hey, Em." he greeted cheerily.

"What are you doing here?" Emma asked him, coming up beside him.

Jake shrugged his shoulders, and they began walking behind the class. "I don't know. I guess I was bored today. I wanted to see what the big deal was of Saturday trips." he said.

"It's called extra credit, and I'm surprised you, out of all people, choose for it." she replied. "Isn't the soccer field the opposite way?"

"Yep," Jake nodded nonchalantly. "But I've been practicing all week for the upcoming tournament next month-"

"You were practicing for _next month_?"

"Yes, Emma. That's what professionals do."

"...then why are you all doing it?"

"Ha-ha. You're hilarious." Jake rolled his eyes. "But coach has been pretty strict on this one. And plus, to participate in the tournament, you're gonna need a really good grade."

Emma scoffed playfully. "So that's where the extra credit comes in. Soccer."

"It's a big thing." Jake told her.

"I know." she smiled. "So, good luck?"

"Thanks." he replied. "So as I was saying before I was _interrupted_, I was practicing all week and I just really want a break. And I want a guarantee to participate in the tournament. _And_ home's too monotonous, so I thought 'why not'? It's a win-win."

"That's why Noah had been hanging out with us all week."

"I guess…"

"So you're really just going to hang out here in the quiet calm nature with the smallest field trip ever?"

"Sure, why not?"

Emma sent him a small nod, and they both returned to walking side by side satisfied. From the back of the crowd, they listened to Mr. Burley tell them about the world they were now in, also known as the forest they had entered. Emma and Jake both knew that he was more of a paranormal-interest scientist, and had to admit that all the paragraphs of information he was telling all about was both impressive and at the least intriguing. So they wouldn't exactly turn away just yet. And that quality came in a surprise for both of them. But they were given a good amount of breaks with each set of ten minutes, and they had explored the vicinity.

When Jake had been dragged by Emma to a small, open little field to see a group of flowers, Emma had told him something that he hadn't expected out of that day.

"I'm actually glad you decided to come, Jake."

Staring at flowers that Emma had pointed out earlier, Jake reeled himself back with surprise. He and Emma were never really that close, and outside of ranger business hadn't had so much interaction. All the time they had spent for the past thirty minutes on this field trip had been a record. But Jake didn't expect much comfort to come out of a simple school outing and a half hour.

He couldn't help but blurt out, "Why? I mean…thanks, but really why?"

Emma shrugged her shoulders casually and said, "I guess there wasn't really anyone else to talk to today. I mean, I didn't expect there to. It just feels better with company."

Jake heard it all, and cracked a smile. "That is true. I'd prefer it if I had someone from the team too, so I guess you're my plus one by default." he said.

"Feeling the love, Jacob…"

Jake chuckled, and nudged Emma's shoulder lightly. "Come on," he said. "Let's go catch up with the rest of our class."

"Wait…" Emma commanded him. Jake had turned around by the time she had told him to hold off for a second. But he had obeyed, tilted his head towards his pink ranger, and watched her as she whipped out the camera that had been hanging around her neck.

After hearing the common clicks, Jake gestured to the pathway that they had come from. "The class…"

"Coming!" Emma groaned as she released her camera back to swinging lazily around her neck and turned to catch up to Jake.

Catching up to him, they went down through the forest again together.

~X~

By the time the two had arrived back to their group, Mr. Burley had already begun lecturing again as he led everyone uphill. Discreetly, Jake and Emma took their places in the back of the crowd unnoticed. But their trip with the two of them had gone on casually and simply. They'd listen to what was being told, pass a lot of green, and Emma would point out almost everything that didn't look normal for him while Jake listened.

But the serenity had Jake thinking. Emma had made a point that went for the both of them. Though he did have some friends that had showed up, he was glad that at least Emma had shown up. His closest friends were all the rangers. And he was thankful for all of them, no matter how close or far away they would be.

He felt comfortable around Emma, as opposed to others. She was one that he preferred to hang close to instead of other students that were outside his team. But Emma had been easy-going, natural, and friendly to be around. Neither had to address the fact that it was a bit weird knowing that neither have had much interaction. It was as if they'd been doing it for a long time.

He was grateful.

Jake snapped himself out of his muse when he had nearly toppled over Emma. Grabbing her shoulders from behind, he caught both him and Emma from tipping over. Standing up again, he noticed that the class had gone completely quiet and were all halted in a bunch. They had been staring to the left, and Jake followed their gaze.

They were all overlooking a small pond beyond the fence of grass that bordered. And in the center was a small bird, with smoothed brown feathers, a long body, and thin brightly colored beak. It seemed to be eye-candy for the whole class. But Jake had to admit to himself that the sight of this bird had been fascinating.

"The California Clapper Rail."

The whole class, including Jake, turned to Emma's voice in the middle of the crowd, and replied in a simultaneous "What?"

"The California Clapper Rail. It's an endangered species." Emma explained in a quiet whisper, as of not to disturb the bird. "It's pretty rare, and especially for places like here."

"Yeah, what person comes to Harwood?" a student called out.

"Shh!" Emma hissed. The student reeled back in offence as she went on. "They should be inhabited around San Fran's Bay, but I guess somehow they found their way here."

"Someone's looking for a home." another student said, triggering Emma to let out another hiss to shush him.

"Very good, Emma." Mr. Burley whispered across.

"This is amazing…" Emma mumbled as her camera came into her hands. She pushed herself up to the front of the crowd.

Jake watched her from a distance as she shoved herself to the front and instantly began taking pictures of the still bird. He let himself have a light chuckle, before turning to where his classmates have been frozen, and subsequently frowned.

He watched as the fellow classmates had been quietly whispering, and snickering behind Emma for as long as she'd been turned around. Most were annoyed, and some thought it was just stupid from what Jake could hear in their snippets. Either way, they were finding their opportunity to call their nature enthusiast mean names. And Jake saw clearly that it was bullying.

Before he could blink, one student had stepped up to the front and placed himself right behind Emma.

"Let's experiment then, shall we?" he said. Emma jumped at his presence, so much that her camera had leapt out of her hands as she faced the student. There hadn't been much time though, for he suddenly shoved past her and past the grass fence that separated them all from the Clapper Rail. While the group behind her cheered for him to go on, and potentially disturb her, Emma gasped a low shriek.

"Don't disturb it!" she whispered fiercely. "They're secretive birds. And if you disturb them, they-"

"CAW, CAW!" he roared. Disturbed herself, Emma quickly gazed at the bird before blindly groping for her camera. The bird had processed the fact that it had someone in its presence, and Emma watched its natural behavior of freezing in place for just two seconds. But as soon as the student got closer, it reacted quicker as it quickly scuttled farther away from them all and buried itself in a bush of grass.

Hopelessly dropping her camera, Emma groaned and promptly snapped her head to the student that was cockily sauntering back to their class.

"Cody!" she groaned to address him for scaring off the Clapper Rail.

"What?" Cody shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he placed himself back in the group of students.

"That animal was searching for a home, food, and shelter, even coming all the way to Harwood to." she explained with an irritated huff. "You can't just drive it away like that!"

"Yeah I can. I just did." he replied, gesturing to the now empty space behind him. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned to face Emma, and pointed a finger at her. "Oh yeah, you're that stupid nature expert in our school."

"Problem?" Emma said defensively.

"Maybe, but you just got all hyped up over some stupid bird-"

"It's not stupid! It's a life, just like you and me, and for you to infiltrate and violate its way of life is stupid!" she spat back.

"It was a little antic of mine, Jane Goodall. Calm down. So I scared off a bird…"

"It's more than that!"

"Oh, what's so wrong about it? Dude, chill out. We don't need some loser nature enthusiast telling us what we can and can't do."

Emma groaned as Cody seemingly ended the conversation by walking back to the group and leaving her alone. Signaling the near end of their trip, Mr. Burley rounded up his students to get one last look around the area before they headed back down. But Emma remained in her place. She lifted up her camera, and began scanning through her photos of the California Clapper Rail, followed by a deep sigh.

Sure, it had been just a simple joke, just a student having fun. But it was so much more to her. Everyone underestimated just how much she cared about nature. Anything that would harm, violate, or disturb it to her would be considered just crude and inappropriate to her. There was never any real reason to hurt the world around people.

Everyone always found her drastic and out of proportion. Why she would be yelling over protecting the environment was a mystery to others. But nobody really understood why she was like this. She wasn't one to go around and watch her home be dirtied around her. But it was always that she took things to seriously or she had to lighten up because it was okay. Sometimes, it wasn't okay. Nobody understood…

"Did I hurt your feelings?"

Emma perked up and whipped around, only to be faced once again with Cody who had put himself in the back of the crowd. Frowning and dropping her camera, she crossed her arms across her chest.

"I'm not the one you should be saying sorry to." she said.

"You're saying that I have to apologize to a bird?" he laughed.

But Emma didn't crack a single curve of her lips. "You've disturbed its presence. I wish you could. But I guess that's silly, so…"

"You're cute, kid." Cody commented with another narcissistic chuckle, making Emma glare deeper. "And also surprisingly kind of hot."

The last comment made Emma immediately widen her eyes, soon before she heard another set of footsteps coming up into the scene.

"You can back off, man." Jake said as he placed himself in the middle of Cody and Emma, teetering slightly closer to Emma. He had seen it turn out, and though he had been friends with Cody, he logically defended the pink ranger. He could've felt her tension ripping through the air from a distance. Cody looked to Jake defensively, then to Emma, and back to Jake. Stepping back in offence, he shook his head in distaste, but Jake knew he was obeying.

"Sure, whatever Jacob." he said as he tapped Jake's shoulder, winked at Emma, and turned and walked away.

Emma let out a breath of relief, which was dissolved with a dash of surprise. "You kind of saved me, right there." she told Jake with full honesty.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "I was just helping a friend out."

And Emma couldn't help but shine a grin when he called her _friend_.

Jake reflected her smile, but soon was gesturing to the path that their class had walked down that would lead them out of the forest. "If we're done with all these casualties, I think we might want to head back with the rest of the class."


End file.
